In a series of reforms started in 1998 and formalized with the 2000 introduction of the Blueprint for Student Success, the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) implemented a wideranging series of reforms designed to boost the literacy skills of students. This paper provides an overview of the reforms, assesses the contributions made by the papers in this special issue of JESPAR, and highli...

conclusions there are advantages in applying accrual-based accounting in the public sector which certainly depends on how this system is implemented in the sector. results developed countries have implemented accrual-based accounting and utilized the valid, reliable and practical information in accrual-based reporting in different areas such as price and tariffs setting, operational budgeting, ...

BACKGROUND In India, the process of decentralization of health services started taking shape in the mid-1990s. Systemic reforms envisaged delegation of administrative and financial responsibilities at district level for management of health-care institutions in 23 states of India in 1999. Subsequently, some of these reforms became part of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) launched in 200...

PROBLEM In the 1970s, Thailand was a low-income country with poor health indicators and low health service coverage. The local health infrastructure was especially weak. APPROACH In the 1980s, measures were initiated to reduce geographical barriers to health service access, improve the health infrastructure at the district level, make essential medicines more widely available and develop a co...

BACKGROUND Universal Health Coverage (UHC) has emerged as a major goal for health care delivery in the post-2015 development agenda. It is viewed as a solution to health care needs in low and middle countries with growing enthusiasm at both national and global levels. Throughout the world, however, the paths of countries to UHC have differed. South Africa is currently reforming its health syste...

BACKGROUND Vietnam has achieved great improvements in maternal healthcare outcomes, but there is evidence of increasing inequity. Disadvantaged groups, predominantly ethnic minorities and people living in remote mountainous areas, do not gain access to maternal health improvements despite targeted efforts from policymakers. OBJECTIVE This study identifies underlying structural barriers to equ...

Instructional policy reforms that focus on standards and assessments have gained popularity in the last two decades. State governments, which had previously left most instructional matters to local governance, set challenging learning standards and developed related assessments and curricular frameworks. Despite their popularity and persistence, standards-based reforms face the challenge of suc...

Background In South Africa, integrating the management of health services at a decentralized district level within the authority of general health service (GHS) managers is a reform priority. The reforms promote administrative integration, i.e. transfer of administrative authority over disease control programmes (DCPs) from DCP managers to GHS managers and re-defining DCP manager roles from imp...

Background Comzmercialization of health care has contributed to widen inequities between the rich and the poor, especially in settings with suboptimal regulatory frameworks of the health sector. Poorly regulated fee-for-service payment systems generate inequity and initiate a vicious circle in which access to quality health care gradually deteriorates. Although the abolition of user fees is hig...